A BUSINESSMAN could have been sleepwalking when he battered his 83-year-old father to death during a drunken attack, a court heard.

The victim, Edward Lowe, suffered 90 separate injuries when he was punched, kicked and possibly stamped on and bludgeoned with a chair.

But a jury at Manchester Crown Court was told his 32-year-old son, Jules Lowe, may have been sleepwalking at the time of the attack and the issue they had to decide was his state of mind at the time his father died.

Prosecutor Richard Marks QC told members of the jury they would hear evidence suggesting he had a history of sleepwalking and that there were a "very small number" of recorded cases, particularly in Canada and America, where it had been accepted a killing took place when the defendant was in an automaton state.

But he said the defence claims were "far-fetched in the extreme" and it was significant that while sleepwalking Lowe had not been violent before.

Lowe has denied murdering his father at his home in Windmill Lane, Walkden, after they had been out drinking with Lowe's elder brother, David, one night in October, 2003.

During the night neighbours heard loud banging coming from the house and the next morning Mr Lowe senior's body was found on the drive. A post mortem examination revealed he had extensive injuries including brain damage probably caused by punching, kicking and possible stamping.

Proceeding